<!-- See WP:JFN --> is a 1991 platform game developed and published by Sega for the Sega Genesis. It was released in PAL regions on June 21, North America two days later on June 23 and in Japan the following month. The player controls Sonic, a hedgehog who can run at supersonic speeds. The story follows Sonic as he aims to foil the mad scientist Doctor Robotnik's plans to seek the powerful Chaos Emeralds. The gameplay involves collecting rings as a form of health, and a simple control scheme, with jumping and attacking controlled by a single button.
Development began in 1990 when Sega ordered its developers to create a game featuring a mascot for the company. The developers chose a blue hedgehog designed by Naoto Ohshima after he won an internal character design contest, and named themselves Sonic Team to match their character. It uses a novel technique that allows Sonic's sprite to roll along curved scenery which was based on a concept by Oshima from 1989. Sonic the Hedgehog, designed for fast gameplay, was influenced by games by the Mario creator, Shigeru Miyamoto. The music was composed by Masato Nakamura, bassist of the J-pop band Dreams Come True.
Sonic the Hedgehog received positive reviews for its visuals, audio, and gameplay and is widely considered one of the greatest video games. It sold over 40 million copies across all platforms, becoming one of the best-selling video games. On the Genesis, which it was bundled with, it sold over 15 million copies, making it the best-selling Genesis game. It established the Genesis as a key player in the 16-bit era and made it competitive with the Super NES. It has been ported to multiple systems and inspired several clones, a successful franchise, and adaptations into other media. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was released in November 1992.
Gameplay
thumb|left|The game's first [[level (video gaming)|level: Green Hill Zone]]
Sonic the Hedgehog is a platform game where players control the titular character Sonic, who is tasked with defeating Doctor Robotnik and obtaining the six Chaos Emeralds. The game takes place from a side-scrolling perspective. He is capable of running at high speed through levels that include springs, slopes, bottomless pits, and vertical loops. The levels are populated with robot enemies, inside which Dr. Eggman has trapped animals; destroying a robot frees the animal, but is not necessary to complete the game. His primary form of offense is a spin attack, in which he curls into a ball and spins his body, damaging enemies and certain obstacles upon collision. This may be performed by jumping or rolling.
Scattered around each level are gold rings that can grant Sonic protection from a single enemy or hazard as well as an extra life if 100 are collected. Also scattered throughout the level are canisters containing power-ups such as additional rings and temporary invincibility. A brief animation shows Sonic's return to the first zone, with animals liberated from Dr. Eggman.
Reaching the end of any zone's Act 1 or Act 2 with 50 rings will cause a large ring to appear through which Sonic can jump to enter a bonus stage. In them, Sonic is perpetually curled up in his Spin Attack animation, and bounces off the bumpers and walls of a fully rotating maze. In these levels, the player earns a number of continues for each multiple of 50 rings collected, but the main goal is to obtain the Chaos Emerald hidden within the maze. Colliding with any of the blocks marked "GOAL" ends the level. For the next three years, programmers and designers at Sega worked on a brand new character to rival Mario. In 1990, Sega ordered its in-house development studios to develop a game featuring a mascot for the company. Sega's president Hayao Nakayama wanted a character as iconic as Mickey Mouse.
Sonic was originally teal-colored, and to match the Sega logo. According to Ohshima, Sonic's basic design was created by combining Felix the Cat's head with Mickey Mouse's body. His shoes had buckles through the inspiration of Michael Jackson's boots on the album cover for Bad and the red and white color scheme of Santa Claus, whom Ohshima saw as the most "famous character in the world". The new character was originally named "Mr. Hedgehog", but the eight-member team changed his name to "Sonic" and took the nickname Sonic Team. According to Yuji Naka, Sonic Team was a one-time unofficial nickname for the studio within Sega that was used during the development of the game; it was never mentioned again on the division's releases until Ohshima-directed and Naka-produced Nights into Dreams was released in 1996. The name would permanently stay when its successor Sega AM8 was spun off as Sonic Team Co., Ltd. in 2000.
Ohshima said that "Sonic" was chosen because it represented speed. Ideas proposed to flesh out the character included placing him in a rock band, giving him vampire fangs, and giving him a human girlfriend named Madonna. Sega of America scrapped these ideas to keep his identity simple. Sega of America also expressed concerns that most Americans would not know what a hedgehog is. They proposed a full-scale recreation of the character, but compromised with Sonic Team to simply make design changes for western audiences. which was where he focused most of his effort. Production on Sonic the Hedgehog officially began in April 1990 and lasted about 14 months. Naka explained that the reason he wanted a fast game was that he had ported Ghouls 'n Ghosts, and wanted to work on its movement but found it slow.
Sonic the Hedgehog was developed by a team of seven at Sega R&D9: two programmers, two sound engineers, and three designers, People came onto the team as the need for content increased.
Due to the popularity of Mario, Naka wanted Sonic to take over the American market. Sonic's default speed was set to that of Mario while running. Tests were run using the Genesis' tool library, and problems such as flickering, slow frame rates, and shaky animation soon became apparent. Increasing Sonic's speed caused animation problems. Naka solved this by developing an algorithm which retained fluidity. All that was left was to optimize of the game speed to adhere to the staff's expectations. The team noticed that different people had different perceptions of the game's speed: some believed it was too fast, which caused disagreements. As a result, it was slowed down. Sonic the Hedgehog was unveiled at the Tokyo Toy Show, held between June 7–10, 1990. At this point, Sonic was only able to "run at high speed on a slightly wavy track." As so little was done at the time, the team wanted to try and "bluff" their way through the demo, making the game look far more polished than it actually was. Yasuhara originally intended to work on the game for three months due to the delay of his planned move to the United States by the outbreak of the Gulf War, but was engrossed in the project for nearly a year. His designs for levels were intended to attract both hardcore and casual gamers by integrating occasional challenging set pieces into mostly accessible level design.
The team intended to add a two-player mode displayed via split-screen, but Naka's programming knowledge was insufficient to implement it. A two-player mode appeared in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992), whereby the second player controls Sonic's sidekick Miles "Tails" Prower. The sound test was scrapped for time reasons and Naka used the freed up memory to add the iconic "Se-ga!" chant used in TV commercials as a startup sound. Naka also stated that the team was trying to create smooth maps, and that implementing looping structures was a challenge because Sonic would break through them instead of running around them. The backgrounds were also a challenge, as the game's speed created the impression of going backwards.
Yasuhara wanted the game to appeal to both Japanese and American players, which was why Green Hill Zone was redesigned many times. Sonic Team wanted the level to portray the character correctly. Its checkered ground was inspired by 3D image rendering from computers, an idea Naka obtained from Sega developer Yu Suzuki, who used this technique with Space Harrier (1985). The team read Famitsu to stay informed of what their rivals were doing so they could avoid their mistakes. Nakamura said he was surprised, as he had just started with Dreams Come True, but accepted as he was inspired by the team's desire to outperform Nintendo. He said the hardest part was working with the limited number of sounds that could play concurrently: he was limited to four, and said that his lack of knowledge of music on computers made it "impossible". He wrote the soundtrack concurrently with the Dreams Come True album Million Kisses.
On October 19, 2011, over 20 years after the release, a three-disc compilation of music from Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 was released in Japan. The first disc features original tracks from both games, the second contains Nakamura's demo recordings before they were programmed into the Genesis, and the third has songs by Dreams Come True and their associated Akon remixes.
Packaging and release
Game-package illustrator Akira Watanabe said that his goal was to make the characters "colorful", using clear lines and gradation to "finish them neatly". According to Watanabe, the developers asked him to create a package design "similar to pop art ... without being particular to conventional packages" – something "original" and "stylish".
Sega of America CEO Tom Kalinske wanted reassurance that the character would not fail. The global head of marketing, Al Nilsen, and the senior product manager, Madeleine Schroeder, became involved in redesigning Sonic for American audiences. Artist Greg Wray was commissioned to redesign the character, and a new backstory was created where Sonic was from Nebraska. Sega playtested Sonic across the United States with Mario fans: they were shown Mario and then played Sonic the Hedgehog. 80 percent preferred Sonic the Hedgehog, and the game was shown at the 1991 Summer CES. The game was completed in May 1991, during Japan's Golden Week. It arrived in the United Kingdom on June 21, 1991, replacing Altered Beast. This enabled Sega of America to sell 15 million Genesis units. Gameplay as a whole is simplified; the level design is flatter and has a larger focus on exploration, with no vertical loops, and Sonic cannot re-collect his rings after being hit. It was the final game released for the Master System in North America. The Master System version was re-released for Wii's Virtual Console service in North America and Europe in August 2008. The Game Gear version was re-released for the Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console on June 13, 2013, and included as an unlockable game in Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut for GameCube and Windows and Sonic Mega Collection Plus for PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Windows.
Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis
To mark the game's fifteenth anniversary, a port for the Game Boy Advance, Sonic the Hedgehog Genesis, was released on November 14, 2006, in the United States. This version, unlike others, received poor reviews, with a Metacritic score of 33/100. The chief complaints concerned its poor conversion to the Game Boy Advance, resulting in a bad performance and poor implementation of the original music and gameplay.
As a response to the poor reception and claims that the system could not handle the original game, Simon "Stealth" Thomley, who later assisted with the development of the 2013 mobile port, released an unofficial, proof-of-concept version of Sonic the Hedgehog for the system. The unofficial version contains a complete Green Hill Zone and two bonus stages, as well as Tails and Knuckles as playable characters.
2013 remaster
A remastered mobile port was released on iOS on May 15, 2013, with an Android version following the next day. This version was developed by Christian "Taxman" Whitehead and Simon Thomley of Headcannon from scratch using the Retro Engine, previously used in the 2011 remaster of Sonic CD. This port features several enhancements, such as widescreen graphics, the optional ability to Spin Dash, an additional bonus stage, a time attack mode and the unlockable option to play as Tails or Knuckles; it additionally features a heavily expanded debug mode, which allows for use of unused elements and elements from more recent games (such as the characters' super forms). The iOS version was updated in 2016, adding compatibility with Apple TV.
3D Sonic the Hedgehog
A Nintendo 3DS version, 3D Sonic the Hedgehog, was released as part of the 3D Classics line in 2013. This version, unlike most downloadable re-releases of the game, is not emulated; rather, the code was restructured to take advantage of the 3DS system's stereoscopic 3D graphics and comes with additional enhancements, such as the option to use the Spin Dash move, a CRT-style filter, and the option to start from any level.
Compilation releases
With its sequels for the Genesis, Sonic the Hedgehog has been ported for a wide range of home and handheld consoles and personal computers through compilations. It has since appeared in Sonic Jam (1997) for the Saturn, Sonic Mega Collection (2002) for the GameCube, Sonic Mega Collection Plus (2004) for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, Sega Genesis Collection for the PlayStation 2 and PSP, Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection (2009) for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, Sonic Classic Collection (2010) for the Nintendo DS, Oculus Arcade for the Oculus Rift, and Sega Genesis Classics (2018) for Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. The 2013 remaster was included in the 2022 compilation Sonic Origins. This remaster saw Amy Rose becoming a playable character in an upgraded version of Origins.
Downloadable releases
Sonic the Hedgehog has been available for all three major seventh-generation video game consoles. It was part of the Wii Virtual Console at the service's 2006 introduction, and PlayStation Network shortly afterwards. The game was released for the iPod Classic, iPod video, and video-capable iPod Nano models in 2007 and for Apple's iOS in April 2009. Sonic the Hedgehog became available on GameTap in September 2009. In October 2010, it was released on Windows via Steam. Additionally, it is an unlockable reward in the console versions of Sonic Generations. The 2013 remaster was made available on the Sega Forever service on iOS and Android in June 2017. A port for the Nintendo Switch was released on September 20, 2018 as part of M2's Sega Ages line of rereleases. It adds features including the ability to use moves from Sonic 2 and Sonic Mania, a challenge mode, a time attack for the first stage, and features from the 3DS rereleases of the game and its sequel.
Canceled versions
U.S. Gold acquired the rights to make a version of Sonic the Hedgehog for the Amiga, ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, and Atari ST personal computers, but these went unreleased. Several screenshots exist, some of which resemble the 8-bit version. An enhanced port for the Sega CD was also planned, but was canceled in favor of Sonic CD.